Indian Society Chapter 3 Social Institutions: Continuity And Change

Role of ideas of separation in caste system:

(i) It has engendered discrimination, inequality and prejudices among people.

(ii) As per Varna system, some people are declared Brahmins, Kshtriya and vaisya i.e. the upper caste while a majority of others as Shudra. There is also a section of society excluded from these four Varnas and people of these classes have been declared as depressed or untouchables.

(iii) This idea of separation and hierarchy has brought drastic changes in social processes since the Post Vedic Era to colonial and Post-Colonial Period.

(iv) This ideology imposes caste by birth and compels people to compare his/her skills only to hereditary occupations viz. a barbers son will or can do only hair cutting and a cobbler's son will do shoe manufacturing occupation.

(v) This ideology had divided society and this was the sole reason for India's falling in the trap of slavery for more tham two centuries in the past.

(vi) As per caste system every person has a distinct caste and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy of all castes.

(vii) Castes also involve sub-divisions within themselves, i.e. these have sub-castes and sometimes, sub-castes may also have sub-sub-castes. It is called a segmental organisation.

(viii) Ideas of separation and hierarchy proved beneficial for some castes while others are condemned to a life of endless labour and subordination.

(ix) Each caste is supposed to be different form and therefore, separated from every other caste.

(x) Different and seperated castes do not have an individual existence and they can only exist in relation to a larger whole, the totality of society consisting of all castes.

(xi) Economic or military/physical power is closely associated with social status so that those in tend to be of high status. People defeated in wars were assigned to low caste status.

(xii) Each caste has its own place in the system which cannot be taken by any other caste. It allows no mobility.

Rules imposed by the caste system

(i) Caste is determined by birth hence, nobody is allowed to change his caste, leave it or choose not to join it. An individual found violating caste rules shall be punished from social exclusion.

(ii) One cannot solemnise his marriage with the person (he or she) not member of his own group. It's endogamy recognised under caste system.

(iii) Person of a particular caste shall have strictly observed the rules of food and food sharing.

(iv) A person born into a caste can only practice the occupation associated with that caste.

(v) Shudres and untouchables shall serve the upper castes i.e. Brahmin, Ksatriya and Vaisya popularly called Dvija. They cannot share food with upper caste individuals.

Changes in the caste system doing colonialisation

(i) The British government conducted decennial census from 1881 onwards in which caste based data were collected separately.

(ii) The census conducted under the direction of Herbert Risley in 1901 CE sought to collect information on the social hierarchy of caste i.e. position of each caste in the rank or order.

(iii) Representatives of different castes addressed hundreds of petitions to the Census commissioner in order to enlist them on a higher position on hierarchy of caste system. Prior to that people were reluctant to their castes.

(iv) Upper castes were given preference in the land revenue settlements and related arrangements under British Government.

(v) The Government of India Act. 1935 was passed to give legal recognition to the schedules (list) of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state. From here, the terms scheduled castes and scheduled tribe came into being and subsequently, given place in Constitution of independent India.

(i) Urban upper castes have benefited the most from the developmental policies implemented by government of India after independence. Now they had suffice wealth and educational resources hence, they need not support from caste based claims. They werein glut of affluence.

(ii) Upper caste elite were able to benefit from subsidised public education/professional education in science, technology, medicine and management. Their people till then were ascended to higher positions in government services and had made a debut in legislature.

(iii) The third generations from these groups had acquired economic and educational capital sufficient to ensure the best opportunities in their life.

These have been classified according to their permanent acquired traits.

As per permanent traits, about 85% tribal population lives in parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. 11% lives in the North Eastern states and 4% in the rest of India.

Share of tribals in state population is the highest in the North-Eastern States. It is 30% in Assam, over 60% combinedly in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. In other words, their concentration is upto 95% of total tribal population in these North Eastern states.

In terms of language, these are castegrised into—Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austric and Tibeto-Burman. 1% tribes speak Indo-Aryan while 3% Dravidian language, Austric language is almost known to tribals and 80% speak Tibeto-Burman.

In physical-racial terms, tribals are classified in Negrito, Australoid, Mongoloid, Dravidian and Aryan categories. In terms of size, tribals range between seven million to less than hundred person (i.e. in Andaman Nicobar Islands). Biggest tribes are the Gonds, Bhils, Santhals, Oraons, Minas, Bodos and Mundas each at least a million people. As per census of 2001, their share in total population of India is 85 million person million person or about 8.2%.

As per Acquired traits : Classification is based on : (i) Mode of livelihood and (ii) Extent of absorption into Hindu society through Sanskritisation. They are fishermen, food gatherers, hunters, shifting cultivators, peasants and plantation and industrial workers on the basis of livelihood. On the basis of assimilation into Hindu Society, tribals are incorporated in Hindu society according to their attitudes and status mainly financial. It rests on the desire of tribal people.

Evidences Substantiating tribes as primitive communities.

(i) They have not written rules/canons on religion.

(ii) They are neither Hindus nor peasants.

(iii) They have not a state or political form of the normal kind.

(iv) They are engaged in primary activities like fishing, food gathering, hunting, shifting, agriculture etc.

(v) They have no motion of purity and pollution which is central to the caste system.

(vi) They live in inaccessible forests and rugged mountanous regions.

(i) Schemes for tribal development are being implemented. These are five yean plans, tribal sub-plans, tribal welfare blocks, special multipurpose area schemes etc.

(ii) Tribal movements against their eviction and extermination from the forest lands in the name of development are the major factors behind the assertion of tribal identities. Narmada Bachao Andolan is one of the examples of tribal movements.

(iii) Many tribal identities today are centred on ideas of resistance and opposition to the overwhelming force of non-tribal world.

(iv) Many states in North-East includir Manipur or Nagaland are with tribals whose civil liberties have been limited under special laws in which they have been declared as disturbed areas. State repression is provoking rebellions which has taken a heavy toll on the economy, culture and society of the North-Eastern States.

(v) In states like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, tribals still are powerless because autonomy is not given to larger structures.

(vi) Educated middle class is emerging among tribal communities. Thus, different base are growing for the assertion of tribal identity

These are patrilocal, matrilocal with regard to the rules of residence, Patrilineal and matrilineal with regard to the rules of inheritance, patriarchal and matriarchal with regard the authority and dominance.

(i) A family can be Matriarchal or patriarchal with regard to authority and: dominance. For an instance, migration of men from the villages of the Himalayan region can lead to an unusual proportion of matriarchal form families in the villages.

(ii) Family is linked to the economic, politicals, cultural and educational spheres and changes in them bring in change of family composition and structure.

(iii) New entrepreneurial opportunities change the structure of the family.

(iv) Change in family structure takes place when a war takes place, people migrate in search of work or when young people decide to choose their spouses instead of letting elders decide or when sane sex love is expressed openly in society.

(A) Matriliny

(i) In these societies, the property passes on to daughter from mother.

(ii) A woman thus, inherits property from her mother and passes it on to her. daughter while a man controls his sister's property and passes on control to his sister's son. Thus inheritance passes from mother to daughter whereas control passes from maternal uncle to nephew.

(iii) This matrilin generates intense role conflict for men because they are torn between their responsibilities to their natal house on the one hand and to their wife and children on the other.

(iv) Such role conflict generates the constraits for woman because she can never be fully assured that her husband does not find his sister's house a more congenial place than her own. Similarly, a sister will be apprehensive about her brother's commitment to her welfare because the wife with whom he lives can always pull him away from his responsibilities to his natal house. Thus, woman possession is only a token authority.

(b) Matriarchy : (i) It is woman who exercises authority and dominant role in such society.

(ii) It is merely a theoretical concept and in behaviour, it does not allow the woman real power of dominance.

(iii) There is historical or anthropological evidence of matriarchy.

(iv) Matriarchy in real sense is not existed in matrilineal families.

There are two broad forms of family:(i) The nuclear family and (ii) The joint family. The joint families are further divided in two forms—(a) Patrilineal and Patrilocal family and (b) Matrilineal and Matrilocal family. A third form of family is the extended family which is not a very common form.

Another classification adds two forms i.e. (i) the polygamous family and (ii) the polyandrous family. Polygymous family is based upon one man having more than one wife whereas the polyandrous family is based upon one woman married to more than one husband at the same time.

We would like to define the structure of these family forms as under—

(i) Nuclear Family:It is a group of persons consisting of husband, wife and their un-married children. It is a basic grouping of mates and their offsprings. The kinship relationships in nuclear family are husband-wife, father-son, father-daughter, mother-son, mother-daughter, brother-brother, sister-sister and brother-sister. This is the smallest composite family unit. There may be supplemented nuclear family units with widowed parents of the husband or his younger brother and sisters as residents.

(ii) Joint family:It consists of more than one nuclear family. All the members are blood relations (except wife and husband) or close kins and generally share common residence, kitchen and property. Joint family have three or more generations but two or more colateral families living together in a common residence and sharing common kitchen and property also form a joint family. This family is the hallmark of traditional indian society having very deep roots in history. Its traditional form is found in India even today however, in meagre number.

(iii) Extended family:When closely related kins other than those forming nuclear or joint family are added to the nuclear family, it takes the form of an extended family. These other kins can be those to which the nucleus kins surrounded by distant co-sanguineous kins or those in which kinship universe is extended still further E.g. Parents-in-laws living with son-in-laws.

(iv) Matrilineal Family:In this family the husband resides with his wife in her mother's house. The concestry in this family is traced to the maternal line. It is also matriarchal in nature because the authority in this family lies with the mother. She is the head of the family. This is not a common form of family. For example, the Nayars of South India live in matrilocal families.

(v) Patrilineal Family:Most of the families world over are of this kind in the patrilineal, patriarchal and patrilocal family ancestry is traced to the paternal line. Unlike matrilocal families, the ancestors in the patrilocal families are men. Patrilocal family is also patriarchal. The authority lies with the male members and the final authority rests with the eldest male member of the family.

(vi) Polygynous family:When a man marries more than one wife, the family organisation which formed by virtue of this, is a polygynous form. Most of the tribal families are polygynous.

(vii) Polyandrous family:In this family a woman has more than one husband. This is composed of the fraternal polyandry where several brothers marry one wife.

Degrees of kinship relationship : There can be different degrees of distance between the kins. The relationship may be very close, not so close, distant, remote and so on. On this basis, kinship relatives can be classified into the following categories.
(i) Primary kinship relatives : Who belongs to the same nuclear family as a particular person viz. the individual's father, mother, brother and sister in the family of orientation and husband, wife, son and daughter in the family of procreation are called primary kinship relatives.
(ii) Secondary kinship relatives : Grand father, Grandmother, Aunt (father's sister) brother's wife, sister's husband etc.
(iii) Tertiary Relatives : Each secondary relative has primary relatives who are neither primary nor secondary relatives of the individual. These are tertiary relatives. The great grand parents, father's cousins, spouses of father's, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces
(iv) Distant Relatives : (a) All other relatives who are remote than tertiary relatives called distant relatives (b) For all practical purposes, the relatives upto tertiary degree are normally found in interaction among themselves. Very few people remember remote relatives unless they are remembered for establishing the ancestry. In modern industrialised societies, tertiary relatives are only seen in contact with each-other. We can say that the most common range of kinship structure today is upto secondary relatives.

These are major problems of tribal communities as under:

(i) Indebtedness : It is probably the most difficult problem faced by the tribal population in India. It is due to rampant poverty, loss of tribal rights over land and forests and poor and primitive mode of agriculture i.e. shifting (Jhum) agriculture.

(ii) Land Alienation : Agriculture is the primary occupation of the tribals. Nearly 88 percent scheduled tribes are engaged in agriculture. Their chronic indebtedness to the shopkeepers and money lenders becomes the primary factor in land alienation.

(iii) Poverty and unemployment : Intensive planning in tribal areas has led to chronic poverty among the tribals. In 1983-84 the percentage of persons below the poverty line among tribal people was 58.4% in rural areas while 39.9% among the urban population.

(iv) Alcoholism : Drinking can be stated to be a part of tribal society from the times immemorial and has to be understand in that context. The distilled liquor shops have served as a channel through which anti-social elements from other areas of the country find their pressure in the tribal areas.

(v) Other problems : The tribals face illiteracy, housing, communication, interaction with mainstream, industrialisation, urbanisation, migration and depopulation problems.

There are two types of Constitutional provisions for scheduled tribes. The one is with regard to their protection and the other for their development.

(i) Article 366 (25) of the Constitution of India defines Scheduled Tribes as 'such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be scheduled tribes for the purposes of this Constitution.

(ii) In terms of Article 342 (i) the President of India may, with respect to any state or union territory, and where it is a state, after consultation with the governor thereof, notify tribes or tribal communities or parts thereof as scheduled tribes. This confers on the tribe or part of it a Constitutional status making the safeguards provided for in the Constitution, to these communities in their respective states' UTs According to the 2001 census the population of Scheduled Tribes in the country was 8.43 crore i.e. constituting 8.2% of the total population of the country.

(iii) The first proviso to article 275 (1) provides for assumed special financial assistance for promoting the welfare of STs and for raising the level of administration of the Scheduled Areas to that of the rest of the state.

(iv) The state is enjoined upon to promote with special care for the educational and economic interest of scheduled tribes and protect them from social injustice and any forms of exploitation.

(v) Seats are reserved for scheduled tribes in Lok Sabha and state legislations. They are provided with reservation for government jobs.

(vi) The recognition of traditional tribal rights to land and legal protection against alienation of tribal land.

Problems of the scheduled castes (i) A majority of Dalits are poor, deprived of basic needs and socially backward. Many among them do not have access to sufficient amount of food, healthcare, housing and clothing. Moreover, caste inequalities continue to be among the most important factors affecting their access to education.

(ii) Dalits generally continue to be concentrated in occupations that render little social status or possibility for social mobility.

(iii) Practice of untouchability and social-exclusion are still continuing in some areas regardless of constitutional guarantees and official decrees.

(iv) Scheduled castes as a group are not homogeneous. They are internally differentiated in terms of occupation, numerical strength, geographical spread over and ritual status. But together they are segregated from other castes on the criteria of untouchability.

(v) The majority of the scheduled castes in villages continue to suffer because they work under the control of the dominant castes and the landlords.

These are important measures taken by the Indian government for scheduled castes are as under:

(i) Untouchability has been abolished.

(ii) Protection from social injustice and various forms of exploitation.

(iii) Keep open to them, religious institutions of public character.

(iv) Removal of restrictions on their access to wells, tanks, shops restaurants and roads etc.

(v) Giving them preferential treatment in admission to educational institutions.

(vi) Giving them other benefits and grants for pursuing education.

(vii) Compensatory provision for recruitment and promotion in government services.

(viii) Giving them special representation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

(ix) Setting-up separate department and advisory councils to promote their welfare and safeguards their interests.

(x) Making special provisions for the administration and control of the Scheduled areas.

It is an English term, called Jati in Hindi vernacular. It has been derived from the Portuguese word “Casta” meaning a group. Membership to a caste is determined by birth and it is an ascriptive group.

The functions treditionally performed by caste system has no doubt declined today. In recent times, caste has proved to be an effective vehicle for political mobilisation of the vast rural masses for participation in the electoral process that sustains Indian democracy. The evils of caste system are still prevailing in one or another forms.

(i) Caste is primarily a social institution whereas class is an economic institution. Eg. Malhotra, Bhandari, Mukharjee are castes while industrial workers, Agricultural workers denote the class including lower class, upper middle class, upper class.

(ii) Caste represents social differentiation while the class represents social status and economic differentiations.

(iii) Both of them result in social and economic inequality and therefore, systems of stratification.

(i) The caste system is credited to ensure the continuity or the traditional social organisation of India, (ii) This system got success in accommodating multiple communities by ensuing each of them a monopoly of a specific means of livelihood.

Varna may be described as an abstract classification of people on the basis of mythical origins. Caste by contrast is a concrete empirical grouping based on social, virtual and occupational criteria.

Family is that unit of social life whose every member is related either through blood relation or marriage or adoption. Maclner and Page define family by saying that it is a group defined by relationship, sufficiently practiced and endures to provide for the procreation and upbringing of the children.

In common parlence, a nuclear family is a small family in which generally a couple lives with their minor or unmarried children. Lowie, a renowned sociologist says—“A nuclear family is a unit of husband-wife and immature children, which is separate from the rest of the community.'

In common parlence, kinship is understood that part of culture which deals with notions of or ideas about relatedness or relationship through birth and marriage. In the words of Charles Vinik, “Kinship is related to those approved social relations which are based on estimated and real hereditary relation.

Marriage is a social-cultural institution. It is that vital pillar of society on which the very foundation of human existence rests. The contiunity of society is progeny and it is based on birth or reproduction process. It is very important social-cultural institution of marriage originated to give legal and customary sanction to the sexual relations. It is a gateway to enter family life. Hindu marriage is a religious sacrament also. It is imperative for completion of life and attainment of emancipation (Moksha).

These are (i) Principle of difference and separation and (ii) wholism and hierarchy. Many of the scriptural rules of caste are designed to prevent the mixing of castes i.e. marriage rules, food sharing, social interaction and occupation rules. Such differences exist in relation a larger whole i.e. the totality of society contesting of all castes. It is not egalitarian but a hierarchical system and individual caste does not occupy a distinct place but an ordered rank. Thus, one side, it is based on separation while such separation constitutes a hierarchy on the other.

We see that each caste has its own and distinct place which can not be taken by any other caste. There is occupational distinctions in caste system, hence, it acts as decentralisation of labour. For an instance, an iron-smith supplies plough share, shovels, spade etc. for agricultural operations and repairs them time to time, the Vaisyas take over marketing of farm produce and ensure supplies of other commodities to society. Brahmins propitiate deity to set monsoon etc. in order and defend village from epidemic, pestilences etc.

He was a social reformer who had formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (truth seeker society) to secure human rights and social justice for low caste people. He criticised the injustice of the caste system and its severe rules of purity and pollution.

Savitri Phule was the first woman in Pune who opened the first school for girls and devoted her life to educating Shudras and Ati-Shudras. She served plague patients in Pune.

He was a rationalist leader of lower caste moment in South India. He created public awareness about equal human rights and told lower caste people that to enjoy liberty and equality is the birth right of every individual irrespective of his socio-cultural status or rank in the caste system.

He was a staunch critic to the evils of caste system. He was born in Kerala and led a quiet but significant social resolution and gave the watch words—“One caste, one religion and one god for all People.”

He was one of the foremost sociologist and anthropologist in India who coined the terms like-Sanskritisation and dominant caste and interpreted them in his book—“The Remembered village”. It provides with information on village studies in social Anthropology.

This Kerala born leader of lower castes and Dalits claimed freedom for Dalits to walk on public roads and get admission of their children in government schools and after a long term conflict, he could attain success in his mission.

Colonial period is worked out roughly of 150 years from 1800 to 1947 CE. Following changes took place in this social institution i.e. caste system:

(i) Today's caste is actually the product of colonial period more than of ancient Indian tradition.

(ii) British administrators intended to know the complexities of caste in order to learn a viable methodology to rule over India.

(iii) In the first census conducted in 1860, they enlisted and collected data on caste-wise population.

(iv) This kind of direct attempt to count caste and to officially record caste status had changed the caste system itself.

(v) Caste-dimensions were made basis for different schemes hence, these efforts from the British gave birth to discrimination between several castes and sub-castes.

Thus, a fundamental change took place in caste system during colonial period.

(i) He declared them as Harijan (i.e. people of god)

(ii) Advocated abolition of untouchability.

(iii) He declared caste as a social evil and colonial conspiracy to divide Indians.

(iv) He worked for abolition of caste distinctions.

It is because:

(i) The state was unwilling to push through radical reforms to remove economic inequality between upper and lower castes.

(ii) Except option of reservation for the SC and ST the state put on the same platform for government jobs one side the educated upper caste people and uneducated or ill educated lower castes on the other. It did no help to lower caste people.

(i) Modern industry did not accept reservation rules for SC and ST.

(ii) Caste practices were abandoned in cities and ideas of individualism and meritocracy were preferred while people from lower castes have no earlier grip or debut to urbanised living manners.

(iii) In all textile mills and jute mills only upper caste people were given recruitment.

(iv) Middle men recruited people of their own caste and religion.

(v) Endogamy has remained sustained ab-initio as we see even today, most marriages take place within caste boundaries and even inter-caste marriages are solemnise only between upper castes (i.e. Brahmins, Kshtriya and Vaisya).

Caste sanctions is losing its lustre in contemporary India and therefore, do not operate with the same force in all sections of Indian society. However, marriage rules are still observed strictly. We see, endogamy is still the dominant mode in contemporary India but inter-caste marriages are also acceptable today in some sections of Indian society particularly in the urban centres. However, this trend is also limited to the upper castes i.e. inter caste marriages between Brahmin, Ksatriya and Vaisya or Bania families. Marriages outside we see, hardly run for any longer period and end in divorce or separation otherwise. This happens because the couple cannot do compromise with their distinct manners any long. The political use of the caste is increasing day-by-day to every region of India.

The structures and functions of caste system have also been deteriorated to a greater extent. The ritual injunctions and interdictions relating to food and physical contact have almost vanished since untouchability has been declared an offence liable to punishment by the laws of the land. The relations of Jajmani have been replaced by clientele in urban areas. Even in villages, Jajmani relationships are mantained only at the ritual level.

Caste system is thus, making an adequate adjustment with the changing times. It has retained its relevance by becoming more resilient and accommodative. The most important of such processes include sanskritisation, westernisation, industrialization, Urbanisation and constitutional legislation.

Dysfunctions of caste system in India:

(i) The caste system creates obstacles to the unity of the country. It opposes national consciousness by imposing social restrictions and ideas of purity and pollution.

(ii) Untouchability is the most worst gift of the caste system. It is like cancer to the society.

(iii) Caste under horizontal and vertical social mobility and may thus, force on individual to carry on the traditional occupation against his/her will and capacity.

(iv) Industrial development is also affected in the presence of caste system as entrepreneurs tend to recruit people of their own caste and this favouritism increases in society.

(v) As efficiency and motivation is throttled by the rigidity of the caste system, it retards all round development of human personalities.

(vi) The caste system usually does not provide opportunity to enhance the status of woman in the public sphere.

Contrast between the composition of the caste and the tribe.

(a) A tribe theoretically is a territorial group while a caste is a socio-cultural group. When a tribe loses its territorial character, it takes the form of a caste.

(b) Each tribe has its own distinct language than the other but it is not the case with a caste. A tribe never imposes restrictions on its members regarding the choice of occupation but a caste usually promotes hereditary occupations and the principle of birth.

(c) Caste and tribe emphasise and perpetuate collective identities in strikingly similar ways. A caste or tribe may change its name and also its mode of livelihood and still retains its collective identity.

(d) The tribes have segmentary, egalitarian system and are not mutually inter-dependent like the castes which show a system of stratification and organic solidarity.

Features of marriage among the Hindus can be turned summed up as under:

(i) It has an uniqueness of its own which makes it distinct from other communities.

(ii) Hindu marriage is not merely a union between a female and made but a tie for whole life undeiated from vicissitudes of worldly life.

(iii) Hindu marriage aims not only to secure physical pleasure for the individual but also to advance their spiritual development.

(iv) Marriage binds the wife and the husband into an indissoluble bond which lasts beyond death.

Joint family : A joint family is a group of such people who live under one roof, prepare food in the same kitchen, who are inherited to the common property and perticipate in common prayers and all members of such large family are related to each other's special kinship.

Features of Joint (Extended) Family

(i) Large Size : A joint family is oftenly a bigger one. There are many more members ofthe family as compared to the nuclear family.

(ii) Common property : In a joint family, property does not belong to any particular member of the family alone. All have the equal share in the property of the family.

This report tells that tribal identity is at rise as menifested from the movements by them in many parts of India. This identity has been developed mainly during to encroachment by government and some major industrial houses in forests i.e. their original habitats in the name of schemes for tribal development and their realisation of ethnic. Cultural identity. A middle class has been developed within tribal community due to propagation of modern education, occupations and reservation policies. With the emergence of that middle class, issues of culture, tradition, livelihood, control over land and resources and demands for a share in the benefits of projects of modernity, have become an integral part of the articulation of identity among the tribes. Thus, a new consciousness can be seen taking its birth within the tribal communities.

Just contrary relationship is being formed between the development of tribal communities and the development plans being implemented by the government of India. We can discuss upon this anomaly in the following points.

(i) Building of large dams, factories and mines in areas under forests are some aspects of development where these are indirectly usurping tribal habitations.

(ii) Tribal are being paid a disproportion ate compensation against their displacement from mineral rich and forest covered parts of the country. These plans have therefore, benefited to mainstream but at the expense of the tribes.

(iii) Private properties have also been developed in tribal regions and their community based forms of collective ownership have been placed at a disadvantage in this new system of private property.

(iv) Owing to pressure of development, many tribal concentrated regions and states are experiencing the problem of heavy in-migration of non-tribals there E.g. the industrial areas of Jharkhand have suffered a dilution of the tribal share of population and same situation can be seen in tribal regions falling in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.

Conclusion : On the basis of above four facts, we can state that national development is not in favour of the development of tribal communities. Instead, these plans are decimating tribal population, interfering with their unique culture and customs and therefore, movements are being launched by the tribals of North-Eastern states in India.

Structural tensions faced by men and women in matriarchal societies -

(i) The matriarchal form of family refers to the “authority and dominance “lying with the woman. However, in reality, it is Matriliny which is seen to exist among the Khasis of Meghalaya.

(ii) The woman inherits the property from her mother but does not exercise control over it; nor are they the decision makers in public affairs. The authority and control go from maternal uncle to nephew and the inheritance from mother to daughter.

(iii) This matriline generates intense role conflict for men because they are torn between the responsibilities of their natal household and that of his wife and children.

(iv) There is an apprehension in the minds of the wife and sister of the man; with regard to his commitment to their welfare.Because she can never be fully assumed that her husband does not find his sister's house a more congenial place than her own similarity, a sister will be apprenhensive about her brother's commitment to her welfare because the wife with whom he lives can always pull him away from his responsibilities to his natal house. Thus, woman possession is only a token authority.

A social group consisting of collection of families and lineages based on shared ties of
kinship, ethnicity, and common history of territorial – political organization.

(I) The changes in social structure certainly lead to the changes in the family structure. The social economic political and cultural changes reflect their impact on family structure.
(II) After independence, the rapid process of industrialisations and urbanisation have changed the structure of the extended families to nuclear families.
(III) The urban atmosphere does not accept the concept of joint families. The constraints of urbanisation are in favour of nuclear families.
(IV) The changes in the family structure may occur accidentally as when a war takes place or people migrate in search of work. Sometimes the changes in the family structure are purposely brought about.

The term 'Sanskritisation' was coined by M.N. Srinivas. It refers to a process whereby members of a middle or lower caste try to raise their own social status by adopting the ritual, domestic and social practices of a caste or castes or higher status.

The institution of caste is visible in many respects:
(i) For the SCs, STs and backwards the caste has become visible. Indeed their caste has tended to eclipse the other dimensions of their identities.
(ii) As they have no inherited educational and social capital, and because they must compete with an already entrenched upper caste group, they cannot afford to abandon their caste identity for it is one of the few collective assets they have. Moreover, they continue to suffer from discrimination of various kinds.
The institution of caste is invisible in many respects:
(i) One of the most significant paradoxical changes in the caste system in the contemporary period is that it has tended to become 'invisible' for the upper caste, urban middle and upper classes.
(ii) The groups who have benefited the maximum from the developmental policies of the post-colonial era, Caste has appeared to decline in importance.
(iii) The upper Caste elite were able to benefit from subsidised public education with special reference to profession education in science, technology medicine and management.
(iv) In the beginning, their lead over the rest of society ensured that they did not have any tough competition. Their privileged status become consolidated in their second and third generation.

Rules imposed by the caste system:
(i) Caste is determined by birth hence, nobody is allowed to change his caste, leave it or choose not to join it. An individual found violating caste rules shall be punished from social exclusion.
(ii) One cannot solemnise his marriage with the person (he or she) not member of his own group. It's endogamy recognised under caste system.
(iii) Person of a particular caste shall have strictly observed the rules of food and food sharing.
(iv) A person born into a caste can only practice the occupation associated with that caste.
(v) Shudras and untouchables shall serve the upper castes i.e. Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaisya popularly called Dvija. They cannot share food with upper caste individuals.

Tribes have been classified in India according to their 'permanent' and 'acquired' traits.

Permanent Traits:

1. Permanent traits have region, language, physical characteristics and ecological habitat. The ecological habitats covered include hills, rural plains, forests and urban industrial regions.

2. In terms of language, tribes are categorised into four categories. Two of them are Indo Aryan and Dravidian and the other two are Austric and Tibeto-Burman.

3. In physical-racial terms, tribes are classified under the Negrito, Australoid, Mongoloid, Dravidian and Aryan categories.

4. In terms of size, tribes vary a lot. The biggest tribes are the Gonds, Bhils, Santhals, Oraons, Minas, Bodos and Mundas.

Acquired Traits: The following two main criteria are used in the category of acquired traits:

1. Mode of livelihood: Under this category, tribes can be categorised into fishermen, food gatherers and hunters, shifting cultivators, peasants and plantation and industrial workers.
2. Extent of incorporation into Hindu society: The dominant classification both in academic sociology as well as in politics and public affairs is the degree of assimilation into Hindu society.

Tribes have been classified in India according to their 'permanent' and 'acquired' traits.
Permanent Traits: Permanent traits have region, language, ecological habitat and physical characteristics
Acquired Traits: There are mainly two criteria are used in the category of acquired traits:(a) Mode of livelihood (b) Extent of incorporation into Hindu Society.

1. The Colonialism brought about the following changes in the caste system:
   During the colonial period the institution of the caste system underwent major changes. Some of these efforts took the shape of very methodical and intensive surveys and reports on the ‘customs and manners’ of various tribes and castes all over the country. 
2. The most important official effort to collect information and data on caste was through the census.
3. The new land revenue settlements and other related arrangements and laws served to give legal recognised to customary rights of the upper Castes.
4. Towards the end of the colonial period, the administration also took an interest in the welfare of downtrodden castes, referred to as the ‘depressed classes’ at that time. It was as part of these efforts that the Government of India Act of 1935 was passed which gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes.

‘Caste’ is a word borrowing from the Portuguese casta, meaning pure breed. The word refers to a broad institutional arrangement that in Indian languages (beginning with the ancient Sanskrit) is referred to by two distinct terms, varna and jati.

Tribal political institution:

1. These are fairly well developed and function at various tiers, such as village, clan and state level. for example- Khasis had their own council known as 'Durbar Kur' which was presided over by the clan headman.
   
2. Many of the states of north east have been living for decades under special laws that limit the civil liberties of citizens. The citizens of state like Manipur, Nagaland don't have the same rights as other citizens of India because their states have been declared as 'disturbed area'.

1. National development, particularly in the Nehruvian era, involved the building of large dams, factories and mines. While the tribal areas were located in mineral rich and forest covered parts of the country.
2. This type of national development has benefited the mainstream at the expense of the tribe. The process of dispossessing tribals of their land has occurred as essential by-product of the exploitation of minerals and other resources.
3. During the British period, forests started to be systemtically exploited and this loss  of forests affects the tribal economy.
4. Heavy in-migration of non-tribal also threatens the tribals community and culture.  The industrial areas of Jharkhand for example have suffered a dilution of the tribal share of population. 

A proprietary caste group own most of the resources and can command labour to work for them in most parts of the country.

1. National development, particularly in the Nehruvian era, involved the building of large dams, factories and mines. As tribal areas were located in mineral-rich and forest covered parts of the country, tribals have paid a disproportionate price for the development of the rest of Indian society. 
2. This kind of development has benefited the mainstream at the expense of the tribes. The process of dispossessing tribals of their land has occurred as a necessary byproduct of the exploitation of minerals and the utilisation of favourable sites for setting up hydroelectric power plants, many of which were in tribal areas.
3. The loss of the forests on which most tribal communities depended has been a major blow. Forests started to be systematically exploited in British times and the trend continued after Independence.
4. The coming of private property in land has also adversely affected tribals, whose community-based forms of collective ownership were placed at a disadvantage in the new system. Example: Narmada Dam.
5. Heavy in migration of non-tribal also threatens the tribals community and culture. This threatens to disrupt and overwhelm tribal communities and culture.

1. The most important official effort to collect information and data on Caste was through the census. The census became a regular ten-yearly exercise from 1881 onwards.
2. The new land revenue settlements and other related arrangements and laws served to provide legal recognised to customary rights of the upper castes.

1. According to social structure, a family can be male headed or female-headed; migration of men in search of work can increase the number of female headed households.
2. After independence, the rapid processes of industrialisations and urbanisation have changed the structure of the extended families to nuclear families.
3. The long work schedules of young parents may lead to increasing number of grand parents moving in as care givers for young grand children.
4. The changes in the family structure may occur accidentally as when a war takes place or people migrate in search of work. Sometimes the changes in the family structure are purposely brought about.

1. The caste system can be understood as the combination of two sets of principles, one based on difference and separation and the other on wholism and hierarchy.
2. Ideas of separation and hierarchy proved beneficial for some castes while others are condemned to life of endless labour and subordination. Each caste is supposed to be different from – and is therefore strictly separated from – every other caste.
3. Different and separated castes do not have an individual existence – they can only exist in relation to a larger whole, the totality of society consisting of all castes.
4. Economic or military/physical power is closely associated with social status so that those in tend to be of high status. People defeated in wars were assigned to low caste status. Each caste has its own place in the system which cannot be taken by any other caste. It allows no mobility.

1. Issues relating to control over vital economic resources like land and specially forests.
2. Issues relating to matters of ethnic-cultural identity.